P is for pink, purple, black and gold

 

small fuzzy bird in a bunch of leaves
 
We seem to do better with purples than with pink. We were just headed back to the car in one park when this colorful tweet flew by. It flew off again just as quick and it took some fiddling with lighting to see the pink. Rather than rose robin, this seems to be a pink robin! Always good to have a challenge, right? 

large chicken shaped bird with red beak and purple breast

This one is a purple swamp hen. These flamboyant birds are often found in the parks and nature preserves. Love the attitude in this one.

dark purple bird with red eye in branches of a shrub
The pacific koel is a new one for us. It was on the list for one of our sites (south of Sydney) and we hunted and hunted. We heard it right at the beginning and then not again. So of course, we find it in the tree opposite the Potato Point house. This picture was when it was up on the point but same bird. It is named for its call, so you can definitely know when it is around. Most of my pictures of the bird in this bush were just of its head peeking up, typically with a berry in its mouth. 

Scott is headed for swim lessons down at Narooma and I am gearing up for our first official day at site visitors in Seoul. The schedule has changed - it was to start this evening but since we are in town and they are such gracious hosts, they have added lunch. Fabulous but it does mean wearing a nicer outfit most of the day since we have the reception this evening. There are typically two formal events - the initial reception and the outgoing meeting with university (not just college) leadership. While there is a steam closet in the room,  I couldn't make it work well so did lots of ironing last night. 

The campus used to be Samsung land and the U was elsewhere. Local lore has it the two leaders met on the golf course back in the 70s and decided to trade campuses. Lots of Samsung ware on campus. The room I am in is well appointed with electronics! 

This is from one of our meals. 
sushi types on crockery with gold leaf on the sushi
The edible gold was for good luck
This was another
two young Koreans looking over a multitude of food dishes


UMN's retired swine professor Han Soo Joo took me in hand before the official work started. He recruited these two young men to take me around and then fed us this traditional korean dinner. So much food!

We also ate Korean beef prepared for us the table. Best steak ever. I can't remember how many courses after the gold sushi and the steak but the food never seemed to stop coming
japanese dinner; a server is cutting up the steak and cooking it at the table

Hope you are able to enjoy special foods in your life! Just be glad you aren't a young Korean couple wanting to get married. They have to prepare one of these meals for family before they do.








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